HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Obviously my boys couldn't keep their masks on straight! Joseph seemed to manage fine and at every house when the greeter said "wow, Batman came to visit me" Joseph would lift up his mask and say "no, silly, it's me Joseph". It was way too cute!
Alex on the other hand couldn't handle the mask and depth perception and ended up bailing a half dozen times and now has a scraped up nose - better than a broken nose!

Aaron took the kids out for the first half and I did the second half. I think they probably visited about 25 houses and filled their buckets twice. I'm not sure how many kids we had visit us, I made 100 treat bags, gave one each to the dayhome kids so that leaves 95, we've got about 40 left, so that's 55 and I gave 2 to most of the kiddies so I'm guessing we had about 30 this year which is about the same as last year. The town hall hosts a pumpkin jumble event every year on Halloween night so I think that's where a lot of the kids are going nowadays. The mall seems to be a big hit lately too. Although when it's minus 5 or 6 on Halloween it totally makes sense to me! Lucky for me, Aaron brought Jacquie and I some nicely warmed Bailey's to keep us toasty while sitting outside waiting for Trick or Treaters. It was the Caramel Bailey's and it's mmm mmm good!

Oh how I've missed those rosy cheeks!

My kids love the outdoors, whether it's plus 25 or minus 5 ! Yesterday, the boys couldn't wait to get out there and make some snow angels and build a snowman that refuses to stick together.

Last night I had a pleasant surprise when I went out. About once a week I go out for the shopping after the kids are in bed and usually stop at Tim Horton's for a hot drink on the way home, and then I ditch most of my change while waiting in line. So, at the last minute I decided to treat myself to Starbucks and before I had a chance to dig out my pennies my coffee was ready! So, instead of sticking the small silver change back in the ashtray for the next time I threw them in the tip cup. If they're that fast and efficient than I think they deserve it.

Bunco night!

Oh yeah it was a good one tonight! Lots of jello shooters, lots of laughter! It just doesn't get much better than that. Tonight's group was Christina & Christina, Shannon & Shannon, Jacquie & Christine, Sherri & Sara, Myself, and our three subs were Andrea, Joanne, and Cindy. Yeah for fun people and yeah for one hit wonders!

Thirteen Concerts I've Been To 1 Stompin’ Tom Connors- it’s sad but I can still probably sing Bud the Spud by memory 2 Glass Tiger – in PEI they were unheard of and the band were actually selling their own t-shirts and none of the ‘fans’ knew it 3 Tom Cochrane – in the pouring rain, but worth it 4 Barenaked Ladies – although I was front room center I ended up being body surfed to the medic…it was just way too crowded and hot 5 Meatloaf – loved it, loved it, loved it 6 Nickelback – was with Aaron and Kathryn in the nosebleeds 7 Live – one of my all time favourite bands 8 Aerosmith – it was okay but I’d probably sit in the cheap seats next time 9 Metallica – was amazing and my ears were ringing for days to come 10 Nickelback – in row 13 and much more enjoyable closer to the front 11 Fleetwood Mac – Aaron won’t admit it but I think he knew more songs than he let on! A dream come true for Mom and Dad! 12 Godsmack – they were an opener for Metallica and I really enjoyed them, much to my chagrin! 13 Joseph’s Superhero Concert – is my all time favourite! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Another successful dayhome meeting

A lot of new faces tonight, I actually had to consult my notes a few times to jog my memory of whom I was speaking to, I think it was just Traci and Tanya that I was getting mixed up in my head. I've got a little bit of homework to do for next month's meeting, one of the ladies asked about taking workshops/seminars and that really got me excited! Imagine that, another established dayhome provider with the same idea of how this should work!
I've got tons of stuff to do to prep for my Bunco party Friday night...Aaron suggested I try and make the cat litter cake which I am seriously thinking about. If you've never seen it before I'll post a picture of it, totally disgusting but edible! Although maybe it would gross them out too much...just more chocolate for me! And I'm working on CD #2 of the One Hit Wonders for a Name That Tune for jello shooters warm up, after all , the ladies usually arrive a half hour before game time to get the extra bunco point! It'll be game on for the two metalheads Jacquie and Andrea...can't wait!

Skating night

Well last night was skating night and it was a total hit for Joseph and a total miss for Alexander!
Joseph is so proud to be on his skates: before we even hit the ice he was walking everywhere in his skates and even attempted to run, and then when we were actually on the ice he didn't want any assistance and kept telling me to stay there and then he kept looking back to make sure I wasn't following, which I did at a safe distance.
Alex on the other hand is just not into the skating thing yet: he whines when he gets his skates, cries to be picked up or to sit in a chair. It makes for a long 30 minutes of ice time with him.
Sometimes I forget that there is almost 2 years between them so that of course accounts for some of Alex's awkwardness...I think I just need to have the wine chillin' in the fridge for after the next lesson - ha ha!

It's A Small World After All...

Tonight I went to my girlfriend (Who is also a former dayhome parent) Michelle's house for an Usborne book home party and spent more than I should have but most people know I have a thing about books, kids books, non fiction books, mysteries...anything!
Anyways, the demonstrator/consultant, Kim, is neighbours with Jenn (another dayhome parent) whom I went to dinner with her and her girlfriends to celebrate her birthday and .... you got it... Kim was there too.
That was totally not an interesting story but my dayhome circles seem to be widening and overlapping more and more.

I went with Kalyna to the party and she pointed out that the only home party she hasn't attended is a s e x t o y party. I'm hoping by putting extra spaces I won't attract any pervs. As much fun as I am, and as much as I like to party I just don't think I could host a party like that. I'd be laughing my ass off too much, or on the opposite spectrum there would be too many awkward silences...

A MacAulay not talking...hard to imagine I know...

And on a last note, my cousin Alli has joined the blogging world, yippee! I'm sure Mom has already figured it out though...Big Brother is watching you...LOL!

It's Mission Impossible at the Beck Household

****Imagine theme music now****

Today's mission for the boys and myself is too sneakily photograph THE UGLIEST HALLOWEEN DECORATED HOUSE IN THE WORLD! You have no idea just how butt-ugly this house is! We're talking streamers, loud Halloween patterned homemade chair cushions and so so so much more. This household almost takes the fun out of decorating for holidays. For Valentines Day they had about a bizillion inflatable hearts and banners everywhere, it almost hurts to look at it.

So, if the boys and I are successful, we'll be back to post it for your viewing displeasure.




Okay, we're back with the photo...I had a hard time actually getting the nerve to take the picture, after all it was broad daylight. But here it is anyways, maybe another day I'll get a shot looking straight on...

Jeff's prayer service and funeral mass were beautiful. I'd never attended a Catholic prayer service before and I'm really glad we went. There were about 400 people in attendance and so many people came up to share stories about Jeff. Uncle Terry gave a wonderful eulogy that had everyone laughing and crying. Quite a few family members had parts of the funeral mass as well which made it very personal. It's obvious that Jeff was loved by all and will be missed by all. Don Cherry is speaking about Jeff in the Coach's Corner tonight at the Edmonton game which will be a nice tribute.

Music Video:CHASING CARS (by Snow Patrol)

Music Video Code provided by Video Code Zone

Here's a post compliments of Auntie Arlene. Enjoy!

Thirteen Things PMS Stands For 1 Pass My Shotgun 2 Psychotic Mood Shift 3 Perpetual Munching Spree 4 Puffy Mid-Section 5 People Make me Sick 6 Provide Me with Sweets 7 Pardon My Sobbing 8 Pimples May Surface 9 Pass My Sweat pants 10. Pissy Mood Syndrome 11. Plainly; Men Suck 12. Pack My Stuff and my favorite one. 13. Potential Murder Suspect Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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A super-quickie post!

Two thoughts:

1) Aaron passed his PARE yippee, only 6 out of the 20 guys passed. Yippee!

2) Lunchtime conversation today between 2 three year old boys:

B: My Mommy has boobies.
Z: Yeah well my Daddy has a pecker.
B: I have a pecker.
Z: Yeah, but we's only got little peckers.

For some reason I thought I had a few more years before thinking about the kids talking about this...

Our Skating Adventure!

Here's Auntie Kathryn and Alex "The Wet Noodle" Beck, ha ha!


Here are the boys and the ladies leaving the ice


Joseph posing for Uncle Jeff


Halleluah! We survived skating!





Tonight was lesson #3 for the boys and lesson #1 for me. Aaron was feeling a bit under the weather tonight so Auntie Kathryn volunteered to take his spot and Uncle Jeff offered to be the camera man. The boys skated up and were really excited to get on the ice. And then they had split personalities: Joseph seems to have been born to skate and Alex got the nickname Wet Noodle from Uncle Jeff for obvious reasons. Joseph also got to be the wolf in "What Time is it Mr. Wolf?" He felt like a total celebrity, it was hilarious! I talked to the skating teacher about getting bobskates for Alex but she thinks we should just tough it out and perservere. She said it'll be harder in the long run to try and switch him from the double blades to a single blade. After skating we picked up coffee for the big kids and timbits for the little kids and headed home. It was a great evening all around!
We've made our plans to head down to the Hat this Thursday. The plan is for Auntie Kathryn to pick up the boys Thursday noonish, the dayhome kids will be picked up by 1 and then Aaron and I can head down to the Hat and hopefully be able to check in to our hotel and have a quick bite before we go to Jeff's prayer service. Friday is the funeral service at 11 so I imagine we'll be home late Friday evening. The boys are looking forward to having a sleepover with Kathryn and Jeff. We would have gladly taken the boys with us but in reality we know they'll have more fun if they stay here than if they go with us. It sounds like they're going to the zoo and maybe swimming, and they've also got Lyla and Hamish (K & J's chocolate lab) for entertainment. Alex really loves Hamish, he talks about him all the time and always wants to know what he's doing.
Tomorrow Aaron runs the PARE and from there he just has to submit his application to the Calgary Police Servies and then it's the waiting game...

My Bi-Polar Weekend

Our weekend was very bi-polar-ish,and by that I mean that our 'highs' were really high and our 'lows' were really low. There was no in between.

Friday night we had the Chris/Janine/Easton Carriere family over as well as the Dan/Cindy/Brooklyn/Mackenzie Carriere family over for pizza, birthday cake and games. We had a great time! It was awesome to see the kids playing together so well, and for once all the ladies got to have a drink while 2 out of 3 boys were drinking tea...what the heck?




Saturday night's Wedding Ladies Night was a riot! I think everyone had a great time, I know I sure did. Between Kalyna's stripper story and Jacquie and Andrea the battling metalheads it was very entertaining. A few ladies wore some wedding attire and we had lots of wedding pics to peruse. I love weddings!



Sunday morning was when we hit the low. We lost Aaron's cousin Jeff in a car accident. The whole family is devastated to say the least. Jeff and his wife Megan were married last year in the Hat and just had a baby boy Makhi a few months back. I had their wedding picture from last year on the mantle last night at the party and Aaron and I were saying how we should see them sometime before the next reunion.

We had a very quiet family day today, we took the boys skating for a little bit this afternoon -Mom in skates isn't that pretty, but I try. I had big plans on posting lots of party pictures but it just seems pretty trivial and not so important right now. Maybe later...

Thirteen Things That Will Be Served At My Wedding Party this Saturday Night 1. wedding cake 2. sweet and sour meatballs 3. Cindy's punch 4. surprise dip 5. artichoke dip although I'll remember to buy non-marinated ones this time! 6. oriental beef skewers 7. mushroom and swiss puffs a la M&M meat shops 8. meat/cheese tray 9. fruit and chocolate fountain 10. pasadena pinwheels 11. cream puffs 12. bruschetta 13. shooters!!!!!!!!!! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Last stamping night...sniff sniff...

Well I'm all done my stamping classes for another year. Which is just in time because staking lessons fall on the same night...and swimming lessons...and any other evening lessons that the boys are interested in!

Thanksgiving dinner

Dad, Lucie, Chris and Jeff (Kathryn's fiance)


Party On Jeff! Where's your mullet?

Me and Mom

Aaron looking as svelte as ever

Auntie Heather and Alex shooting Turtles

We had a very nice dinner with everyone, the food was great, the chocolate fountain worked awesome (Auntie Anne was right, microwaving in small batches is the way to go!), the company was great and there's enough leftovers that I don't need to cook dinner tonight! Yippee!

You gotta love him!

This is Joseph's swim mask but his little brother was just so pleased with himself when he finally figured out how to put them on! My kids sure crack me up!

We had a semi-quiet Saturday, I cleaned while the boys made a mess...typical Saturday...

Tomorrow we have 13 people for Thanksgiving dinner, the boys made place cards for everyone, they are so cute I'm sure I'll have a picture of them to show everyone.

Enjoy your turkey dinners!

Thirteen Things I Love About My House 1) Location, location, location – we couldn’t have asked for a better neighbourhood, we’ve got almost everything we need in walking distance or within 5 minutes of driving 2) Lots of windows on the main floor – you can’t beat natural light, it reduces the electricity bill too 3) Upstairs laundry – when you think about it almost all the stuff I wash are stored upstairs, clothes, linens…I think the only exception would be kitchen towels 4) 3 bathrooms – we’ve got a fairly large powder room on the main floor and 2 full baths upstairs one for the boys and one for us 5) A fairly open floor plan on the main floor –our living room is open to the kitchen and the eating area is on the other side of a breakfast bar/counter so it’s all fairly open 6) Wide hallways – they do take away from the room size but I think it makes the house brighter and roomier looking 7) High ceilings – I think they’re 9 foot ones 8) Big bedroom – it’s a must seeing as we bought big bedroom furniture (who would’ve thought to measure it first?) 9) A window seat upstairs with a slide out cubby for storage 10) A room on the front of the house which turned into the ideal playroom (minus the French doors which are wrapped up in the basement) 11) Gas fireplace in the living room –it’s just so cozy, that was one of Alex’s favorite past times as a baby, to have his naked time in front of the fire on his blankie or sheepskin 12) Maple cabinets – I find it the perfect in between of not too dark and not too light 13) Huge corner storage cupboards in the kitchen – you can cram a lot into those things and then just close the door!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

(Ignore the chocolate milk all over Joe's face please, his mouth was still frozen and he was quite messy, although I also could have just washed him up a bit before the picture)

My monkey on the monkey bars.

Both my monkeys on the teeter totter.

Well it's a quiet dayhome afternoon, we spent the morning at the park and wore everyone out! The little napper is napping in Alex's room and the big boys are playing in Joseph's room which doesn't happen very often so they're pretty well behaved and gentle with his toys.  That leaves me a chance to clean out the window seat cubby and still keep an eye on them.  I think it's a win-win day for the dayhome!

Joseph's started 2 new programs today!

Here's a picture from Joseph's new computer program. I think he designed part of it on computer and then drew in the other parts using stencils...I think... I'm not sure of the actual name of the program but I do know it's through the Children's Technology Workshop which is run by our good friend and neighbour Jacquie. Joseph had a lot of fun and is looking forward to Thursday already.

Tonight was also Joseph's first skating lesson. Aaron said that for the first 20 minutes of the 30 minute class Joseph just kept saying 'I can't do it' 'I can't do it' but once he skated he got more excited and tried harder.

And where was Alex?! Well, last night Alex had an upset stomach in the middle of the night and was sick all over his bedroom, from his bed to the playpen, to the pillows to the stuffed animals...and the list goes on and on...now remember that I don't have a dryer at the moment...eeeeeeeeeew! I washed everything right away last night to get out that curdled milk/sic smell and hung everything over the shower curtain rods in both bathrooms and then disinfected Alex's room before it had a chance to set in. Alex had a pretty quiet day with out another big blowout but was exhausted from being up for quite a few hours in the middle of the night. So, Alex skipped out on skating and hung out with me instead...and had a nice leisurely bath.

Last night we'd actually picked out a new washer dryer set at the Brick but they kept screwing up the paperwork and weren't honoring a deal that they had posted in 3 different locations in the appliances section so in the end...after an hour of waiting with my two impatient little guys we just asked for our money back and will be heading to Trail appliances tomorrow night to pick up a set. So, tonight I'm still washing and hanging a few things over the curtain rod.

You do what you have to do!

Hmmmm....How did I spend my weekend?...Well...

It all started Friday night over at Christina's house for Bunco. Woo-hoo! We all had a great time and met some newbies. I won the hostess rights of the next party which will also be a dress up party. Woo-hoo again! That means I can wear my new wedding dress 3 times this month (once for Ladies Night, once for Trick or Treating, once for Bunco night). Saturday morning came waaaaaaaaaaay too early for this girl but I headed on over to Kathryn and Jeff's house to help with the painting before the furniture would be moved in. I actually didn't paint a single thing! I steam cleaned/stain removed the carpets, did lots of taping and then stripped wall paper borders instead. After a day of work I picked up some subs for a quick and easy dinner. Or so I thought. About 2 hours after Aaron indulged in a few bites of his toasted tuna he was praying to the porcelain king. My poor husband got food poisoning. We got to the emergency at 12:30 at night and Aaron was given some toridol for the pain, gravol for the nausea and a couple of litres of saline for the dehydration. We finally got home at 4:30 this morning just in time for Joseph to wake up to start his day at 6:30...sheesh...give Mommy a break! I pulled an almost all-nighter yet managed to entertain my boys today, do recycling, do some laundry, and just as I head out to take the boys to Courtney's birthday...yep...the dryer quit. So, after the party I get the boys all settled in and ready for bed and then head to the laundromat to finish drying our laundry. Clean sheet night just isn't that great if they're cold and wet sheets! So, we're off to buy a dryer tomorrow night. So much for having a practise skate before we take the boys to lessons on Tuesday night!